Scholarship … Fall 2017

This has been a very positive year for myself and the committee.

We have 8 scholarship girls attending colleges and universities in Massachusetts, California, Ohio and of course New York. Their choice of majors is truly impressive. Child and Family Studies, Inclusive Childhood Education, Spanish, Biology, Mechanical Engineering, Pharmacy, Social Work, and Business Administration.

After receiving all applications, I forwarded them to the committee to read. We were able to agree to meet on July 19th in Weedsport, at the Old Erie Restaurant to spend the morning, lunch and a major part of the afternoon discussing each girl and then deciding on the award for each one.

The awards chosen ranged from $440 to $550, totaling $3,850. Each girl’s award will be send to the school in two installments, half in October and half in March.

On July 21st the award letters were mailed to each girl, with the names of the Associations who would be supporting and praying for her. The Pen Sketch was included along with and an urgent request to return the Pen Sketch as soon as she knew her residential address at school.

I was amazed, 5 were returned in a little over a week! This was not the case last year. This year I only had to remind three girls and two were sisters and their Mom had promised to mail but had forgotten. The third girl apologized.

I had them in a couple of days and was then able to copy each Pen Sketch and forward them to their respective associations along with the Scholarship Calendar and directions to copy the entire mailing and send it on to their local churches in their association. Since the mailings were completed before August 21st I was hoping these would arrived before the Associations had their Fall Meetings.

Another positive note, the North Country Chairwoman of Scholarship contacted me for clarification of the information I had sent her. They were having a meeting on September 7th and said she would distribute copies to each of the churches in attendance. She sounded very positive and excited about getting the churches organized. They have not been active since the Potsdam Church closed.

I will be stepping down as Scholarship Chairman in April and I am pleased to announce the Colleen Charksy will be the new Chairman. We have spent and will continue to spend time on and off the phone to plan and make that transition as smooth as possible. Colleen has been a vital part of the Scholarship program for many years. She has been a blessing to me, and I know she loves and is very interested in its continued success.

My final suggestion I would make to you, and you have heard me say this many times, make use of that Scholarship Calendar in your churches and donate… Donate… DONATE!!